Top 10 teenagers destined to race in F1
- Josh Suttill
- @JoshuaSuttill
- Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share via email
- •
- 1,177 reads
- •
- 3,666 views
- •
- 10 min read
Lance Stroll will become the 11th teenager to race in Formula One when he makes his debut for Williams at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix in March.
The Canadian follows in the footsteps of those such as world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso who made their debuts at just 19 years of age.
Not all teenage debutants are guaranteed to have a successful career, though, for example, the current second youngest driver to compete in the sport, Jaime Alguersuari, was dropped by Toro Rosso at the end of 2011 after less than 50 races.
All of these 10 drivers have one thing in common, a stellar junior formula record. For example, the most recent teenage rookie, Esteban Ocon won the European Formula 3 and GP3 championships in successive years and then earned promotion to F1 with Manor for the second half of the 2016 season.
Now we’re going to take a look at 10 young drivers who all have a great chance of racing at motorsport’s highest level within the next five years:
Charles Leclerc
The 19-year-old Monegasque driver already has F1 experience, with three practice sessions already under his belt for Haas. He’s Ferrari latest protege and he won the GP3 championship in his debut season, only a year after finishing as the top rookie in the highly competitive 2015 European Formula 3 season.
He achieved more pole positions and feature race wins than anyone else in GP3 last year and his clumsy Austrian sprint race and Abu Dhabi weekend are the only blips in an otherwise brilliant season for the recently confirmed 2017 Prema Racing GP2 driver.
Louis Deletraz
The 19-year-old won the 2015 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship before earning promotion to the re-branded Formula V8 3.5 championship with reigning champions Fortec Motorsport. The Swiss driver finished second in the championship, narrowly losing out on the title to the more experienced Tom Dillman.
He became a Renault young driver at the beginning of 2016 and has announced he will be racing in GP2 next season with Racing Engineering. He has shown throughout his career that he is quick to adapt to new series and could be the dark horse for the championship in 2017.
George Russell
The 18-year-old shot to fame after winning the British F4 championship as a rookie in 2014 and moving up to the prestigious European Formula 3 championship at just 17. He had a solid debut season, finishing as the second highest placed rookie and winning once and finishing on the podium on three occasions.
He struggled with numerous technical issues and crashes when he switched from Carlin to HitechGP for the 2016 season but still managed to finish in third in the championship and best of the rest behind the dominant Prema duo of Stroll and Gunther. He took two wins and 10 podiums including a win at the famous Pau Grand Prix circuit.
The 2014 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Russell is strongly rumoured to be joining ART Grand Prix in GP3 in 2017 and could be the next British driver to join the F1 grid.
Joel Eriksson
While all the mainstream media focus in the European Formula 3 championship in 2016 was on Lance Stroll’s dominant season, which lead to him been the latest teenager to join the F1 grid, Joel Eriksson quietly put in an extremely impressive rookie year in the championship to finish fifth in the championship with 10 podiums and a win in Belgium.
The 18-year-old Swede didn’t have the backing of F1 teams like rivals Stroll and Kari but he’s been arguably just as impressive and we expect him to be fully on the radar of the big F1 teams.
Callum Ilott
Ilott entered into European Formula 3 in 2015 straight out of karting and immediately showed speed but struggled for consistency. He left the Red Bull young driver program at the end of the season and switched from Carlin to Van Amersfoort Racing for a second F3 campaign.
He improved on his consistency however he was hampered by a number of mechanical issues and subsequent grid penalties. He still managed to win two races and finish sixth in the standings. Reigning champions Prema clearly see potential in the British ace as they have snapped up him to drive for the Italian team next season.
2017 will mark Ilott’s third and final year in the sport, winning the championship is his only aim and if he can beat his highly rated rivals such as Mick Schumacher and Lando Norris to the title, a seat in F1 won’t be too far away.
Mick Schumacher
The son of the seven-time Formula One world champion won a race in his first season out of karts, then built on his solid debut season by finishing runner-up in both the German and Italian F4 championships with junior formula powerhouse, Prema Powerteam.
His surname will inevitably help him in his path to Formula One and he’s an extremely attractive prospect for sponsors. However, he’s certainly got the ability as well, he’s quick over one lap but it’s in the race where he really comes alive with last-gasp overtakes and electrifying race pace.
It was recently confirmed that he will progress up to the European Formula 3 championship next season, continuing his relationship with Prema Powerteam, and with backing from Ferrari, Schumacher has plenty of support off track, all he needs to do is to continue to deliver on the track.
Lando Norris
After great success in karting, Lando Norris made the transition to the highly competitive Ginetta Junior Championship in 2014. He finished the year as the highest placed rookie and was third in the overall Drivers’ Championship with eight poles and four victories.
He won eight times on his way to becoming the inaugural MSA Formula champion in 2015 and the following year he continued to win championships with the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 title been added to his trophy cabinet. He also made numerous guest appearances in the British F3 championship, finishing on the podium eight times in 11 races.
Norris competed in the 2016 Macau Grand Prix, in preparation for a full season next year with Carlin in the European Formula 3 championship. The 16-year-old tends to win in every series he takes part in, so although there will be much more experienced drivers on the grid, Norris will be a title contender next season.
Guanyu Zhou
Guanyu Zhou is China’s newest hope of a first ever Chinese Formula One driver after a solid rookie season in European F3. Zhou was the sixth highest placed rookie last year but crucially he secured a seat with F3 powerhouse Prema Powerteam for next season.
2017 will be a real test for the 17-year-old but with support from Ferrari and the fastest team in junior formula, Zhou will have all the tools at his disposal to discover his full potential next year.
Luis Leeds
Leeds joined the Red Bull young driver program at the beginning of 2016 after a stellar rookie season in the Australian Formula 4 championship in 2015. He raced in MSA Formula with Arden and scooped up three wins and 300 points on his way to third in the Drivers’ Championship.
He’s landed himself a seat with Josef Kaufmann Racing for 2017 in the Formula Renault 2.0, the German team has helped the likes of Stoffel Vandoorne, Robin Frijns and Lando Norris to win that championship, so Leeds will have a great chance of becoming the latest driver to win that highly competitive series
Richard Verschoor
Following in Max Verstappen’s footsteps, Dutchman Richard Verschoor is a highly successful karter who transitioned to racing in cars and was victorious from the start. He emphatically won this year’s SMP F4 championship and the Spanish F4 championship. On his way to the inaugural Spanish F4 championship, Verschoor won all but three races and is undoubtedly a huge talent for the future.
At just 15-years-old, Verschoor’s short career so far has been simply breathtaking, don’t be surprised if he’s in F1 by the end of the decade. Oh, and who is his favourite driver? Max Verstappen of course.